Swine flu and the factory farm connection.

Wow. I just read a very interesting article over at the blog "Kelly the Kitchen Kop" It is an interview with Michael Pollan talking about the swine flu, and how it was basically created by factory farming.

If you've even glanced at the "About me" section of this blog, then you know I'm a raw food omnivore. Most raw foodists are vegan, and won't even eat raw dairy or eggs. As a raw food omnivore. I eat not only raw dairy and eggs, but raw meat. I mostly eat raw beef, and raw beef liver. I cannot find a source of raw chicken I feel safe eating, and I do not eat pork in any form for both religious and health reasons. (more to come on that)

But to get back on topic. Michael Pollan talks about how the swine flu is a product of factory farming. Hundred of pig live in one space. The barely have room to move. Pigs are intelligent, and these living conditions make them very neurotic. Since the pigs are weaned so early, they still have a urge to suckle so they nip at the tails of the pig in front of them.

To counter this, they just nip off the pig's tail, not so that there is nothing to bite, but to make it that much more painful to have a bloody dtump bitten, so the pig will do anything to avoid a bite.

The pigs are also given tons of antibiotics to keep them from getting sick. Antibiotics that are passed on to us when we eat them, so if we do need antibiotics and some point, we've already built up a resistance.

Diseases like swine flu almost always come out of places like this. It is so easy for the disease to move from animal to animal, mutating rapidly. This places are breeding ground for new virulent diseases and strains thereof.

I can easily understand my so many people have become vegetarian and vegan. This is atrocious. Its cruel to the pigs and bad for us. The solution however is not to stop eating meat. It just isn't healthy. Humans are omnivores, not carnivores or herbivores. We require both plant and animal foods for proper health. The solution is to return to proper farming techniques, where the animal roam free, and eat a proper diet. Most animals, including chickens, cow, and pigs, that live on factory farms are fed byproducts of other animals. Chickens are often fed the feathers and feces of their brothers and sisters.


Do yourself a favor. When you buy meat, whether it be pork, chicken, or good old beef, try to buy it from an outfit that you know treats them right, kills them humanely, and feeds them well.